Monthly Archives: January 2013

When sin entered God’s Magnificent Paradise, our relationship with Him was broken. God’s love for us was so great that He was willing to sacrifice to restore the relationship. God proved He cared about peace when He sent His Son to pay for our sins.

Peace is part of God’s character. And He wants us to reflect peace in our relationships with others. Peace is proving you care more about each other than about winning an argument.

Peace is more than just “not fighting” and saying the right things to keep people happy. Peace is living in a way that shows you care more about others than about being right. It’s about building strong relationships through mutual trust.

The monthlymemory verse is: So let us do all we can to live in peace and let us work hard to build each other up,Romans 14:19, NIrV.That is exactly what God did for us when He sent Jesus to make peace with us. Peace cost Him something great, but out of His love for us, He gave His all.

In Week One’s Bible story, Isaac dug wells in his new land (Genesis 26:16-22, 26-31).When his new neighbors argued with him, he had every right to stay and fight but chose to walk away. Our Bottom Line is: Prove you care about others by walking away from a fight. Often, it takes a stronger person to have the self-control to walk away.

In Week Two’s Bible story, Jacob stole Esau’s birthright (Genesis 27, 31-33) taking his inheritance and his place in the family. It wasn’t fair that Jacob took everything from Esau, but Esau eventually let go of his anger and forgave his brother. Our Bottom Line is: Prove you care about others by letting go of “what’s fair.” Preserving the relationship is more important.

In Week Three’s Bible story, Abigail intervenes (1 Samuel 25:1-35) when her husband picks a fight with David. Abigail quickly presented gifts to David to promote peace between the two men. Our Bottom Line is: Prove you care about others by being part of the solution. Creating peace sometimes means stopping an argument before it gets worse.

In Week Four, the Scripture helps us understand the principle of peace (Colossians 1:20; 3:15). It tells us that peace originated with God’s love for us and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us. This week, our Bottom Line is: God proved He cared for us, so we can prove we care for others. Because Christ made peace between God and us, we should strive to let peace rule in our own hearts and lives.

When our relationships are broken, we often find ourselves avoiding other people. We know that we need to work at this relationship, but it’s easier to ignore what’s going on and sweep it under the rug. Working at the relationship is messy. It will cost us something. It will take time.

In this week’s Bible story, Isaac settles in his father’s land and reopens some wells (Genesis 26:16-22, 26-31). When his new neighbors argue with him, he simply moves to a new place and digs new wells. Isaac had every right to fight for those wells, but he chose peace instead.

Our Bottom Line is: prove you care about others by walking away from a fight. Sometimes creating peace with someone means walking away even if we’re not wrong. Often it takes a stronger person to have the self-control to walk away.

The monthlymemory verse is “So let us do all we can to live in peace. And let us work hard to build each other up.”Romans 14:19, NIrV Living in peace can be hard work. But when we fight for our relationships instead of fighting to be right, we start to reflect the character of God to those around us.

Our Bible teaching helps us understand the principle of work (Colossians 3:23-24). As we work, we can be determined to finish the job right and with a good attitude, because we know we’re always serving God.

This week our Bottom Line is: be the one who works hard, because God sees your heart. God pays attention to all the work that we do, even the smallest things. And it really pleases Him when we do those things with a good attitude!

So when we’re tempted to whine about a task, or give up because it’s too hard, we can remember this month’s memory verse: “Let us keep on running the race marked out for us.”Hebrews 12:1b, NIrV. Keep on doing math homework. Keep on helping with chores around the house. Keep on being kind to our friends and neighbors. Not because we’re motivated by the best grade, a higher allowance, or feeling popular, but because we know that our determination honors God.

Key Point of Passage: Ruth was faithful to Naomi and to God. God was faithful to provide a family protector for them in Boaz.

Memory Verse: The Lord is the one and only God (1 Kings 18:39).

Questions for Discussion:

1) When Ruth’s husband died, did she choose to stay with her mother in law and worship God or did she choose to go back to her old home and worship other gods?
2) Whose field did Ruth work in to find food for Naomi and herself?
3) The Bible calls Boaz a family protector. In what ways did Boaz help Ruth and Naomi?
4) God likes to use each of us to bless each other in the family of God. In what ways might God use you to help your family or friends at church?

In this week’s Bible story, Ruth is determined to stick by Naomi during the very hardest times (Book of Ruth). Both women were widows, but when Naomi decided to go back to her hometown, Ruth insisted on going with her. Ruth didn’t want Naomi to feel alone and overwhelmed with how her life turned out.

Sometimes when we decide to help someone, it gets harder than we expected it would. Our Bottom Line is: be the one who sticks by someone in need. We may have to give something up. We may have to go someplace we really don’t want to go. We may have to courageously speak up when it’d be easier to stay quiet. But be determined to help however long and in whatever way is needed.

Ourmemory verse this month is: “Let us keep on running the race marked out for us.”(Hebrews 12:1b, NIrV) For a while, the race marked out for us might actually go alongside the race marked out for someone else. We can stick with them, and encourage them to keep on helping each other not give up.

Key Point of Passage: God was with Gideon’s small army to defeat Midian’s large army, so that everyone could see that God is stronger than men.

Memory Verse: Be strong and brave…I will be with you (Joshua 1:9).

Questions for Discussion:
1) How many men did God allow Gideon to keep in his army?
2) How many men did the Midianite enemy have in their army?
3) Why did God want Gideon’s army to be so much smaller?
4) Was God with Gideon and the Israelite army? What happened?
5) Who is stronger: God or a big army?

Our Bible story this week tells when God met Moses at the burning bush. (Exodus 3:1-12, Exodus 5–11,14,16,19)God revealed to Moses who He was and helped Moses begin to understand how amazing He is. Moses gained the determination he needed to lead God’s people out of slavery because he trusted our powerful God.

God is amazing, incredible, mysterious, wonderful—awesome! And He loves us! So when He asks us to do something, we can know He will give us the strength to see it through and be with us through the journey. Our Bottom Line is: be the one who does what God says because He’s AWE-some.

Ourmemory verse this month is: “Let us keep on running the race marked out for us.”(Hebrews 12:1b, NIrV) We probably won’t have to fight a Pharaoh or part a sea, but whatever obstacles we face—even if we get tired, confused, lonely or scared—we can keep on going because God will give us what we need to do what He says.